Jamini Roy was one of the earliest and most significant modernists of twentieth century Indian art. From 1920 onwards his search for the essence of form led him to experiment with dramatically different visual style. His career spanning over nearly six decades had many significant turning points and his works collectively speak of the nature of his modernism and the prominent role he played in breaking away from the art practices of his time. Trained in the British academic style of painting in the early decades of the twentieth century, Jamini Roy became well-known as a skilful portraitist. He received regular commissions after he graduated from the Government Art School in what is now Kolkata, in 1916. The first three decades of the twentieth century saw a sea-change in cultural expressions in Bengal. The growing surge of the nationalist movement was prompting all kinds of experiments in literature and the visual arts. The Bengal School, founded by Abanindranath Tagore and Kala Bhavana in Santiniketan under Nandalal Bose rejected European naturalism and the use of oil as a medium and were exploring new ways of representation. Jamini Roy, too, consciously rejected the style he had mastered during his academic training and from the early 1920s searched for forms that stirred the innermost recesses of his being. He sought inspiration from sources as diverse as East Asian calligraphy, terracotta temple friezes, objects from folk arts and crafts traditions and the like. What was increasingly apparent from 1920 onwards was that Roy brought a joy and

Country

India

Inscription

The sketch is signed in Bengali 'Jamini Roy' at the bottom right
corner with pen and ink.

Dimensions

9.6 X 13.6 cms

Detailed Description

It is interesting to see from the hundreds of sketches and drawings
in the NGMA collection, how Roy broke down the figure to the
essential form that goes into its making and then synthesised it to
suggest a structure. In this particular sketch the space is
divided into eight parts with each part enclosing a small drawing
of either an animal or human being. The top most left panel
encloses a cow, two panels that enclose two small sketches
of Mother and Child and the bottom left square with a couple in it
while the the rest have only woman figures. The sketches are
evidences that Jamini Roy made meticulous sketches and drawings in
great detail before undertaking a painting and that he chose to
narrate imagery drawn from the village life, be it the peasants,
artisans, followers of religious cults, women, etc.

Brief Description

It is interesting to see from the hundreds of sketches and drawings
in the NGMA collection, how Roy broke down the figure to the
essential form that goes into its making and then synthesised it to
suggest a structure. In this particular sketch the space is
divided into eight parts with each part enclosing a small drawing
of either an animal or human being. The top most left panel
encloses a cow, two panels that enclose two small sketches
of Mother and Child and the bottom left square with a couple in it
while the the rest have only woman figures. The sketches are
evidences that Jamini Roy made meticulous sketches and drawings in
great detail before undertaking a painting and that he chose to
narrate imagery drawn from the village life, be it the peasants,
artisans, followers of religious cults, women, etc.